Women’s Conference OPEN - REVELATION: God SpeaksQUOTE: C.S. Lewis – My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconolclast. (icon – image representing idea - image breaker)Some speculate about the nature of God through religion or philosophy. Sadly — many professing Christians have their “ideas” of who God is and what he is like — ideas based upon unbiblical speculations.

The One True and living God — who exists in three eternal persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) each fully and equally God (Trinity) — has not left us to our own futile speculations that can never lead us to knowing Him. He has REVEALED Himself to us. I’m so excited about this subject — we’ll be answering questions like: HOW does God speak? HOW did we get the books of the Bible?

PJ’s for little ones.Get to more text message questions

2 Samuel 5:1-10

Last we broached the events of Chapter 5

We saw that Chapter 5 begins with another TIME STAMP

1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron

WHEN is THEN?

It is AFTER the murder of Ish-bosheth’s – the illegitimate king of Israel.

Prior to this — 

Only one of the tribes of Israel — Judah — recognized the man anointed by God to be king — David

The other tribes willingly and knowingly recognized the pretend king Ishbosheth

For reasons that served their own interests and agendas — they were willing to recognize and be ruled by a pretender to the throne.

They would NOT acknowledge David as their sovereign — would NOT turn to David — UNTIL their previous choice was taken away.

THEY ARE A GREAT PICTURE of the men and women who only bow the knee to Jesus when every other choice crumbles.

THEY ARE A GREAT PICTURE of the professing believers who KNOW Jesus is truly the Savior of the world and the King of kings.

But they view their lives in terms of Jesus AND….

Jesus AND….

> my boyfriend

> my career

> even Jesus AND my ministry

And they never really come to view life as

JESUS — PERIOD

UNTIL the AND of their life fails/dies.

1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron

Again notice the FAITH of David concerning the promises and plans of God for him.

David did not kill Ish-bosheth.

David didn’t go to the elder of the other 11 tribes brokering a deal by which they would recognize him as king.

David is content to rule in the sphere of influence given to him by God.

WE SAW that the people embraced David as king on the basis of three things that they knew and about him

and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh.

The elders of Israel received David's leadership because he was an Israelite himself.

This was significant because for a period of time David lived as a Philistine among the Philistines. The elders of Israel put that away and embrace David as one of their own.

2In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel.

The elders of Israel received David's leadership because he already had displayed his ability to lead.

And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’”

The elders of Israel received David's leadership because it was evident God called him to lead.

WE MADE THE APPLICATION that there are THREE THINGS that the people of God should look for in LEADERSHIP

1.) Relationship

A leader amongst the redeemed must truly be redeemed.

A pastor LEADS the redeemed.

Acts 20:28 28Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

A pastor must share in that redemption redeemed.

1 John 1:3 3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

What seems SO OBVIOUS is NOT!

There you find men in the pulpit who deny the essential doctrines of the faith.

QUOTE: Evangelical Essentials p. 31

Acknowledging the GIVEN REQUISITE of RELATED — Let’s consider this on another level

A leader amongst God’s people must be RELATABLE

If you are going to serve and lead in any area of ministry you MUST be REALTABLE.

You can KNOW Biblical truth — but there must be the ability to RELATE that truth to people.

2.) A leader amongst God’s people must have a personal HISTORY of proven relationship with the Lord and proven ability to lead.

Have you gone through some battles?

Have you learned the ways of the Lord?

Have you weathered a crisis and brought others through with you?

POINT: You can only TEACH what you know

Is there EVEIDENCE that God has had His hand on you for such things?

3.) A leader amongst God’s people must have a God-given AUTHORITY

EXAMPLE: Luke 10

1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go your way; behold, I am sending you out

The Lord appointed -

These are not 72 people out doing their own thing.

They are APPOINTED by Jesus for a very SPECIFIC task.

CRUCIAL: ANY Christian service/leadership is a matter of DIVINE APPOINTMENT

INTERSTING: This Greek word is used only ONE other time in the NT

In Acts 1:24 it is translated as SHOW

Acts 1:24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen

One commentator said that it means to MARK OUT or APPOINT for an office by something outwardly observable.

A FORM of this word is used concerning John the Baptist

Luke 1:80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel

When God APPOINTS a person to service and leadership He MARKS them out in a way that is observable.

It is OBVIOUS that His hand is upon them.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Luke 9

1And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

They were NOT ONLY given a DIVINE APPOINTMENT for a SPECIFIC TASK.

But note also the AUTHORITY that was given to them — gave them AUTHOROTY

AUTHORITY = The RIGHT to do something.

REAL AUTHORITY begins here!

Real authority does not come for credentials or popularity

Real authority is when GOD GIVES a person the RIGHT to do something.

AUTHORITY = Exousia

Exousia — the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)

EXAMPLE: Like a policeman arresting you

He does not inherently possess such power

His POWER to arrest has been VESTED in him by the city and state.

He has the EXOUSIA — the POWER to arrest and detain BECAUSE the city and state have given him the RIGHT to do that.

ONE FINAL OBSERVATION concerning LEADERSHIP

‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’”

LEADERSHIP in the flock of God is not just about exercising authority.

That authority is to be exercised in the LEADING and the FEEDING of God’s people.

3So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

WE POINTED YOU TO 1 Chronicles 12:23-40

There we find a description of the great assembly that gathered in Hebron to recognize David as king over all Israel.

A description of the multitude — the armies that gathered — the feast that took place.

4David was thirty years old when he began to reign,

INTERESTING: The age of 30 is interesting in regards to SERVICE in Israel

It was at the age of 30 that the Levites were to begin their ministry.

Num 4:3 …. from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty,

Jesus was about this age when he began His public ministry — Making this another way in which David is a TYPE or FORESHADOWING of Jesus.

INSIGHT: In THAT time and culture it was believed that men came into their full maturity in regards to strength and judgment at that age.

This speaks to us — not so much about a specific age in which one can be involved in leadership — as it speaks of READINESS.

Certainly God had used David up to this time — but NOW David was READY to shepherd the nation Israel.

and he reigned forty years. 5At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months,

and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.It has been a LONG TIME since Samuel was sent by God to the house of Jesse to anoint David as king.

 AT LEAST 15 years — some 20 chapters of Scripture — have gone by in which God has been preparing David for the throne of Israel.

The length of time was NECESSARY to PREPARE David for ROLE he would play in the plans and purposes of God.

Look at the FIRST thing that happens when the TRUE KING comes to the throne

6And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.”

JEBUSITES

Are listed among the Canaanites in Gen. 10:16

They were considered to be among the Amorites (Josh. 10:5).

JERUSALEM

We are told in the Book of Genesis that Abraham — after he had rescued his nephew Lot — ran into a very interesting man

Gen. 14:18 18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)

Psalm 76 suggests that the SALEM of Abraham’s day was actually the JERUSALEM that Joshua found.

Psalm 76:1-2 In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

7Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

We are told in Joshua 10 that Joshua found it to be the chief of the Canaanite cities in the southern region of Canaan.

In Joshua 18:28 we are told that the city was given to the tribe of Benjamin as their inheritance on the land.

We read in Judges 1:8 that the tribe of Benjamin permitted the tribe of Judah to conquer the city of Jerusalem.

BUT — After Judah conquered the city the Benjamites permitted the Jebusites to co-exist with them.

The RESULT of this compromise was that the JEBUSITES over ran the Benjamites

They over ran them to the extent that we read in 2 Samuel 5:6

6And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” l

They became so POWERFUL — and so DEFIANT that they could actually SCOFF at the people of God.

They believed that they could let the blind and the lame defend it against the children of Israel.

NOTE WELL: David had designs on this city BECAUSE God had designs on it.

It would be the place where he would SET HIS NAME.

Deut. 12:5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation

1 Kings 11:36 Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.

2 Kings 21:4 …..of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.”

God placed His Name upon it because it would be the place where He would be worshipped in the Temple that Solomon would build.

It would be the place where He would — as God Incarnate — offer Himself as the wrath appeasing /atoning / redeeming sacrifice for you and me.

It will be the place where He will return at the end of the Great Tribulation to establish His Kingdom on this earth for 1,000 years.

7Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. 8And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 9And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. 10And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

CRUCIAL OBSERVATION: David’s CORONATION was a MOMENTOUS event in the history of God’s people.

It was a REVOLUTIONARY change of authority.

Israel went FROM

being ruled by a man USERPING authority

TO a people submitted to God’s ANOINTED King.

They went FROM

being ruled by a self-serving / self-seeking king

TO being ruled by

a SERVANT-KING — a SHEPHERD KING.

And IMMEDIATELY upon bowing the knee to the TRUE KING — Israel was TRANSFORMED.

Their AGE-OLD nemesis — The Jebusites — were FINALLY overthrown.

And the place once ruled by their enemy would become the CENTER of the worship of the True and Living God.

APPLICATION: We have in these events an awesome illustration of how the CORONATION of Jesus in a man or woman’s heart produces a radical TRANSFORMATION.

In times past they would call this CONVERSION!

KEY INSIGHT: Conversion is not merely the believing of certain truths

It means that you so believe those truths that there is in your heart and life a TRANSFER of ALLEGIENCE

FROM Satan and Self — TO Jesus.

The ABDICATION of the throne of your heart is followed by the CORONATION of a NEW KING in your heart and life.

Jesus — the Son of David — who is God’s ANOINTED King — the King of kings and Lord of lords.

WHEN that happens the world will witness in your life the same TRANSFORMATIONS that followed the CORONATION of David.

I. REMEMBER —  David took the Stronghold of Zion

Zion — The most strategic and stately city in the whole land

It was the very place that God had planned from eternity past to be the place where He would be worshipped.

But up until the coronation of David it had been occupied by their enemy.

Joshua 15:63 But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Israel was so POWERLESS to overthrow the Jebusites that the Jebusites felt they could defend it with the blind and cripple.

CRUCIAL —  The victory that seemed IMPOSSIBLE for Israel became possible WHEN DAVID was crowned king!

UNDER DAVID’S RULE the place once ruled by the enemies of God would become

The place where God would manifest His glory (within the holy of holies in the Temple)

The CENTER of the worship of the One True and Living God.

HERE’S THE PICTURE: WHEN JESUS BECOMES KING over your life — 

He BEGINS His rule by giving us the FIRST TASTE of deliverance and victory over the power of deep-rooted sins.

The sin that defied your best efforts The sin that was destroying you and dominating you

And BECAUSE of His shed blood — YOUR life will become

the DWELLING PLACE of God

and the center of the WORSHIP of God in Spirit and truth.

IT IS AMAZING TO SEE how Jesus liked to deal with LONGSTANDING problems!

He healed a man blind from birth (John 9:1)

He healed a man lame from birth (Acts 3:2)

There was the man who waited for a healing at the Pool of Bethesda for 38 years. (John 5:5)

Jesus healed a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years (Luke 8:34)

HE IS THE SAME —— There is NO HABIT that has gone so deep that the power of Jesus can’t go deeper to defeat.

II. REMEMBER — The SPHERE of David’s rule GREW10And David became greater and greater

In other words — The sovereignty of David was expresses in ever INCREASING and DIFFERENT areas of the kingdom.

HERE’S THE PICTURE: What was true in David’s kingdom is true in the Kingdom of Jesus — in the heart of a man or woman who has bowed the knee to Him.

When Jesus is seated on the throne of your heart there is that INITIAL OVERTHROW of the old authority

BUT — That is only the INITIAL STEP in a LIFETIME in which we see His rule ever growing — ever extending.

Luke 1:32-33 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

THE CONFIRMATION of His CORONATION is seen the INITIAL transformation and the ONGOING EXPANSION of His authority in your life.

You can NOT be a Christian UNLESS Jesus is crowned Lord of your life.

Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ASV — AS Lord

But the INITIAL coronation is followed by a SUCCESSION of coronations in which He becomes Lord over an ever increasing area of your Life.

Every step of obedience and faith is FOLLOWED by INCREASING demands of our Lord to OCCUPY and TRANSFORM NEW areas of our life and personality.

Let me put it in the form of a question: DO you find yourself putting the label SIN somewhere in your life that you would not have put it say 5 years ago?

Listen — When Jesus came into my life — at that moment — to the limit of my understanding — He was LORD OF ALL.

But I didn’t know then what would be involved in a surrender to His sovereignty.

And I’m thankful I DIDN’T!

I also admit that I don’t always LIKE the sovereignty of Jesus  

On many occassions — this last weekend for sure — I have disputed it and contested it.

But every time I have disputed it — that act of resistance has been followed by

spiritual stagnation — failure and defeat!

Though I did not (and can not) lose my salvation —

l have in those times lost something immeasurably precious — 

The sense of His presence and the joy of fellowship.

Romans 14:17 The kingdom of God is righteousness, JOY and PEACE in the Holy Spirit.

But when you GRIEVE the Holy Spirit — QUENCH the Holy Spirit — peace and joy are gone!

REALITY — Every step of FAITH and OBEDIENCE will be followed by a new and increasing demand of Jesus to extend His rule over a new area of my life.

CLOSING — 

ONE MORE MARK of the CORONATION of Jesus in your heart and life is seen in the CORONATION of David

7When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. 18Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.When Jesus becomes Lord of your life — your act of submission to Jesus will immediately be followed by a MASSIVE counterattack from the kingdom of darkness.

The Philistines SPREAD themselves in the valley of Rephaim — Practically at the walls of Jerusalem!

That was exactly where the Canaanites used to make live.

HERE’S THE PICTURE: The enemy of your soul counterattacks

POINTEDLY and PERSISTENTLY

He will NEVER admit defeat.

WHY?

Because a HOLY LIFE is a THREAT to him and his sphere of rule.

IS JESUS KING OF YOUR LIFE?

ARE YOU RESISTING THE EXTENSION OF HIS KINGDOM?